Tolerance.org – Where Everyone's a Racist
By Charles F. Wickwire
web posted January 6, 2003
While watching television the other day I happened to notice
Alanis Morissette telling me to logon to Tolerance.org and learn
more about tolerating my fellow human beings. Now I freely
admit that the bitter lyrics of Canada's number one upset female
are among my favorites. I have been a big fan since Jagged Little
Pill. I had heard of Tolerance.org but I had never paid much
attention to the popup ads and banners that streamed across
sites. After all, I consider myself to be very tolerant. But Alanis
was urging me to check it out, so I did.
Well the site itself is very professional and well maintained. The
first thing the site says is Fight Hate, Promote Tolerance. A very
noble aspiration and one I can easily agree with. Below this
banner are navigation buttons for Teachers, Parents, Teens and
Kids. The audience certainly sounds respectable.
Under this we get to meatier subjects. Under the title Tolerance
Watch we have list of both "Hate and Tolerance in the News",
"Tracking of Hate Groups" and ways to "Learn the Truth". It is
here that things get a little confusing. Under "Hate in the News"
we are offered a multitude of news articles that show examples
of racism, sexism, homophobia and various forms of
xenophobia. I guess that is all right, after all the title was "Hate in
the News".
But when we move on to the title "Tolerance in the News" we
find a multitude of news articles that show examples of racism,
sexism, homophobia and various forms of xenophobia. The only
difference in the two sections seems to be whether the article
focuses on the crime or the victim. The articles under "Tolerance
in the News" are, of course, dedicated to the victims of Hate
Crimes with a sprinkling of announcements for Memorials and
the occasional story about how wonderful Tolerance.org is.
Maybe there isn't any news about tolerance itself.
Then we come to the Hate Groups Tracking Map. This is a very
impressive collection of organizations across the United States
that Tolerance.org's founding organization, the Southern Poverty
Law Center (SPLC), has identified as promoting hatred or
intolerance. One thing I noticed was a grouping called Black
Separatists.
Tolerance.org states the following definition for Black
Separatists:
"Black separatists typically oppose integration and racial
intermarriage, and they want separate institutions -- or even a
separate nation -- for blacks. Most forms of black separatism
are strongly anti-white and anti-Semitic, and a number of
religious versions assert that blacks -- not Jews -- are the
Biblical ‘chosen people' of God."
I was impressed. Tolerance.org was admitting that Black on
White hate not only exists but exists in such numbers as to need
a label. But my newfound respect just as quickly crashed into the
wall of reality when I read the very next paragraph. And I quote:
"Although the Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes that
much black racism in America is, at least in part, a response to
centuries of white racism, it believes racism must be exposed in
all its forms. White groups espousing beliefs similar to Black
Separatists would be considered clearly racist. The same
criterion should be applied to all groups regardless of their
color."
So, the SPLC must consider Black Separatist to be Racist even
though it is just a response to centuries of white racism. They
sound almost upset to have to place these Separatist in the same
category as White Segregationist. Other categories include the
Klan, Neo-Nazi, Racist Skinhead, Christian Identity and Neo
Confederate, but none of them receive any apologetic remarks.
Tolerance.org asks the question "Are You Really Bias Free?"
and offers several online test to find out. First you have to select
a test, there is a list that includes many biases including racial,
gender, homosexuality and age. I tried the test for Racial Bias
called Black/White Adults.
The test starts out by flashing faces on the screen and you have
to select whether they are European American or African
American. Next the screen flashes words on the screen and you
have to choose if they are bad or good words. The words
included Evil, Horrible, Glorious, Happy, Hate and Love.
Next phase of the test flashes both faces and words on the
screen and you have to select whether the face or word is
European American/Bad or African American/Good. That's
right, if the face is European or the word is Bad they both get the
same answer. If the face is Black or the word is good it gets the
opposite answer.
I have to admit I was a little shocked but I continued with the
test. I found it difficult to do the test when I had to combine the
answers of European and Bad for one answer and African and
Good for another. It made for many hesitations.
This phase of the test was repeated and then a return to the
previous phase of flashing the faces and selecting the answer
according to race.
The final phase reverses the earlier mix. Now we have African
American/Bad and European American/Good. I found this no
less disconcerting. For me associating words like good and bad
with race is intolerant to begin with.
Tolerance.org gave me a score of 48 percent strong automatic
preference to white people. This was a surprise to me but I
guess that is why it is considered a "Hidden Bias". People are
racist and don't even know it. That is what Tolerance.org is here
to help with, finding the hidden racist in all of us.
The Tolerance.org disclaimer has this to say:
In extensive evidence from online tests, a large proportion of
white Americans show a moderate or strong unconscious bias
toward, or preference for, whites, and almost even half of all
blacks show an automatic preference for white.
Now I find it odd that nearly half of all blacks show an automatic
preference for whites. It makes me wonder if the test itself
predisposed to a certain result, namely, that anyone taking it will
show a preference toward the white race? How else can you
explain the fact that nearly half of all blacks that take the same
test score the same as a so-called white racist? Are we to
believe that white racism is so strong that is has caused minorities
to hate themselves, or could it be that the test itself is rigged?
Go ahead, visit the site and take the test. But don't be surprised
to learn that you have been a racist without even knowing it.
Charles Wickwire is a Computer Specialist who likes to share
his opinion with those who are interested and even those who
are not. He can be contacted at CharlesWickwire@Yahoo.com
Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com